Smoke in your eyes
by TombRaiderNinja
Summary: Chaos is once again clawing away at Ninjago. Cole's struggling against the devourer's venom, fighting for his sanity. Their newest threat is burning the world to ashes and the ninja are going down with it. Before they can stop any of it they have a lesson to learn. When your heart is on fire, smoke gets in your eyes. Sequel to Pythor's revenge. Rated T for violence.
1. The Darkness within

Chapter 1-The darkness within

_Thick soft blood tickled his skin. It was warm and pleasant, like a gentle blanket of darkness. He looked around the dark room, his red eyes pulsing with crimson light._

_Bodies were spread throughout the room, laying at awkward angles hinting at broken bones. The smell of death filled his lungs, causing a smile to curve up in his lips._

_The rays of moonlight entwined themselves with the ripped curtains and revealed a small demon. Its skin was a sick green color with sharp spikes sticking out everywhich way. He stepped closer towards the curious creature._

_The demon looked up at him, a smile of bloody fangs taking up most of his deformed face. _

_"You wanted their power." It said in a raspy high pitched voice. "So you took their blood."_

_The moonlight in the room grew brighter,and slowly he managed to see the features of the bodies more clearly. A scream caught in his troath as he recognized them. He looked down at his trembling hands and dropped the blood-stained knife that his fingers had clutched tightly._

_Had he really done this?_

_The blood didn't seem pleasant anymore, it had grown dry against his skin causing unberable itch. _

_"You took their blood. " The demon said once more. " Now come take their power."_

_The creature stretched its blistered hand out towards him. He wanted to run away, to hide away, but found his body inching closer towards the demon. He saw his own hand reach out to meet the creature's hand. His fingertips burned when they came into contact with its skin._

Cole awakened with a gasp.

He looked around the room and relaxed at seeing only the sleeping bodies of his fellow ninja. He stood and stumbled towards the bathroom then violently turned on the small lamp, almost shattering the bulb. He showered his face with water then fearfully looked up at his own reflection.

Dark brown eyes stared back at him.

Cole sighed with relief. "It was only a dream you dummy,"

He knew this was a lie. It wasn't just a dream anymore. It was _The _dream. The dream that had haunted his sleep ever since he came back from the hospital. The dream that caused him to run into the nearest mirror, to remind himself that the evil inside him had really gone.

Misako had explained that when Lloyd's skin had come in contact with his open wounds, the green ninja had banished the devourer's venom from Cole's body just as he had done with his father. Everyone had been overjoyed to have Cole back in the team, and things had gone smoothly after that.

Except for The dream.

Cole feared that maybe Lloyd hadn't fully cleaned his blood and that somewhere within him darkness still grew. He wasn't about to blabber out his fears to everyone and end up looking like a coward, so he kept quiet.

After reassuring himself once more that his eyes weren't crimson Cole headed back into the room and he quietly laid against his lumpy mattress. He took a few deep breaths and tried to fall back to sleep, which was an almost impossible task due to Kai's loud snores. Cole tossed and turned until his brain slipped into the dreamland.

In the far corner of the room, where no light interrupted the thick darkness a small figure stirred. It blinked in the ninja's direction before crawling up and out the window.

"It's almost time." The creature chuckled to itself then ran into the darkness' embrace where his mistress waited.


	2. A flicker of Crimson

Chapter 2-A flicker of crimson

"Try moving your arms back a bit more, " Garmadon positioned Naomi as she tightened her sweaty grip on the worn out staff. "If you keep your arms at a 90 degree angle it'll be easier to block the attack."

"Right." She sighed. It had been about two weeks since her brother had gotten out of the hospital and the ninja had started to properly train her. Problem was that, apart from being able to think on her feet, there was nothing ninja-like about her. Naomi's legs were never in the right position, her arms were too weak to land a decent attack and her mind had the tendency to wonder off thus ruining her reflexes.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a break?" Lloyd asked, noticing the way her hair was sticking to her now sweaty skin. Her breathing was loud and rapid and Lloyd knew her body needed rest, but he also recognized the stubborn spark in her eyes. Lloyd had seen that look plenty of times in his own emerald green eyes.

"I'm fine," Naomi replied even though she was the opposite of fine. Her heart hammered against her chest and her pitiful lungs demanded more oxygen. With every breath her troath burned and her body shook. But she wasn't about to show any of her weaknesses around Lloyd.

"Alright then," Lloyd lifted his wooden sword, then swung it down aiming for Naomi's chest. This time her mind didn't wander. She lifted the staff with perfect timing. Remembering the words of Lloyd's father she tried her best to put her arms at 90 degree angles. When the sword hit the staff, Naomi's body shook with effort and she silently commanded her legs to stay in position. They weren't listening though. Her right leg gave out first, slipping accross the ground forcing Naomi to let go of her staff to prevent her face from coming face to face with the ship's deck. Unluckily her left leg was rather tired from all the excercise and decided to fail Naomi as well. Following the right leg's example it slipped, but encountered a loose board which caused Naomi's anckle to twist at an awkward angle. The new wave of pain caused her to reach for her leg instead of the ground and in less than a second her cheek slammed against the deck with a loud hollow sound.

The purple-eyed girl sat up quickly, rubbing her cheek and doing her best to pretend there was nothing wrong with her anckle. "Ok maybe a break does sound good."

"Finally!" Jay throw his arms up in the air dramatically. "I thought we'd never tire you out"

"Well she _is _my sister, of course she's tough, " Cole forced a smile but his tired voice told Naomi that once again her brother hadn't slept very well.

_Tough maybe but I'm a terrible fighter._ She said with her hands then remembering about her voice she repeated her words out loud.

"You'd think you would have gotten used to talking by now," Lloyd smiled and helped Naomi up.

She was careful not to lay any weight on her left foot. "Yeah well after 13 years of sign language it takes a while for the fact that I can talk to sink in,"

They all went back inside, where Zane and Misako had prepared dinner. Naomi dropped herself beside the table in a very un-lady like fashion, causing Nya to shoot her what teenagers everywhere call 'The Look'. For the past weeks, while the guys tried to teach Naomi their fighting techniques, Nya had tried to teach Naomi at least some basic manners that Naomi's grandmother hadn't had time to teach. She was hopelessly failing at this task.

"Everything looks so yummy," Jay sat down beside Naomi glancing at the numerous pies that laying before him.

"Better enjoy cause Cole's cooking tomorrow, " Kai muttered then sat at Naomi's other side, the side that Lloyd had been heading to. The green ninja froze, then sighed and resigned to sitting in front of the purple eyed girl.

"I've been practicing," Cole promised sitting beside Lloyd.

"Gross, I think we better order out you guys, " Jay commented and everyone nodded in approval.

"Well, Let's start this meal for we all need our energy," Sensei Wu smiled and started to eat.

Everyone followed his example. Everyone except Cole. He placed plenty of food in his plate and to someone who wasn't watching very closely he seemed to be eating along with everyone else. But Garmadon was watching. He had been observing all of Cole's moves ever since the ninja of earth had been released from the hospital. At first, when everyone first saw that the evil in Cole had disapeered, he had been overjoyed. He accepted the theory his wife suggested about Lloyd healing Cole when he'd touched the black ninja's open wounds, after all his son had healed him from the evil not too long ago.

Then Garmadon had noticed the dark shades under Cole's eyes, which indicated lack of sleep. He saw how little the ninja ate and, most disturbing of all, how Cole's eyes would flicker back to crimson from time to time.

When everyone retreated to their rooms, Garmadon stopped Cole. "We need to talk,"

"What?" Cole snapped in a sudden burst of irrational anger.

"I think some of the devourer's venom might still be in your blood," Garmadon said." Even the smallest drop can slowly take over your whole body if we don't do something."

Cole's eyes flickered crimson. "I'm fine alright? You're just being paranoid. . ."

The earth ninja steppped away from Garmadon the moved to his room. From behind him he heard Garmadon say," Alright, but if you snap and lay one finger on my son or wife you'll have me to deal with you hear?"

"I hear you old man," Cole whispered the crimson glowing brighter. " And I'll gladly get rid of you first."

The black ninja shook his head, scared of his own words.

_I'm just tired _He told himself _Just tired_


	3. Serpentine's blood

Chapter 3-Serpentine's blood

Miles away, The small demon reached its destination. The night around it pulsed with wildlife as it ran past. It stopped before a large treehouse, light shining through the circular windows. The demon scrambled up the side of the tree and into one of the small windows, falling into what appeered to be a living room with a thick fireplace blazing orange light against the wooden walls.

"I've told you so many times to use the _door ._" A young girl with thick, wavy black hair snapped at the creature while throwing a deadly look from her shining black eyes. " And Casey isn't here so you might as well get out,"

"Nadya isn't Seok's misstress, Seok doesn't have to listen to Nadya," The small demon mocked the girl crawling up to the ceiling, Its sharpened claws digging into the wood.

"You don't have to, but you will," Focusing in the power's that being Casey's guinea pig had granted her, Nadya's usually brown eyes turned deep red and black spirals pulsated from them hyptotizing the demon within seconds. "Now, get out of the house. "

The creature obeyed, its small disgusting body deep in trance. Nadya's lips managed a small genuine smile before her thick lips went back to a straight line when she caught sight of her reflection.

Her face wasn't too thin or too chubby, her lips were thick and perfectly shaped. Her eyelashes were long and her eyes big and shiny complimented by her perfect wavy hair. She couldn't deny that there was a certain beauty in her near-perfect features but after following along in Casey's experiment of combining human and serpentine blood, three thick lines of purple scales had scarred each of her cheeks.

_Sure _Nadya thought scratching at the scales wishing she could simply peel them away _I gained powers,and I can't deny the awesomeness in that fact, it marked me as a freak_

Freak. Mutant. Monster. Nadya called herself many things, never tired of beating herself up. Why lie to herself? She wasn't beautiful. Maybe she had once been acceptable to look at but those days were over. Nadya was, just like the demon,Seok, simply another pawn in Casey's games, a pawn whose purpose wasn't to look good, but to destroy.

Nadya felt no hate or anger towards Casey though. Casey had taken care of Nadya for as long as the girl could remember, and during that time she had learned to respect Casey's power and even began to see Casey as a mother, even though she knew Casey, who had lost the ability to love long ago, would never see her as a daughter.

"Quit scratching at those scales before they bleed again, "Casey slapped Nadya's hand away from her cheeks. The girl jumped slightly, Casey had, yet again, snuck up on her. " Blood is a really disgusting thing to see dripping down from someones face"

"Right," Nadya let her hands drop to her sides.

"After all your mission is about to begin, we don't want you scaring off the ninja just yet," Casey laughed loudly accidentally, or perhaps on purpose, burning down a couple of the wooden chairs.

"When?" Nadya's heart beat faster. She had been training for this mission for years now, ever since Casey had learned about the purple eyed child.

"Tomorrrow," The witch played with Nadya's hair." My sister's son and the girl will pay us a visit, if I'm guessing correctly, and I'm never wrong, well you do remember what your mission is don't you? It would be so agonizing to have to recite it all over again, now that I think of it it would be agonizing just _hearing _it all over again do summarize it for me, unless you've forgotten in which case I'd be force to summarize it myself . . ."

"No No I got it," Nadya nodded, trying to keep up with Casey's words. " Collect the key from the purple eyed girl, then follow the ninja as they try to protect the keys for the devil's box eventually handing them over to you, also keep an eye on the boy with the evil blood and as a bonus kill the green ninja if possible,"

"Excellent!" Casey laughed again."But when they find you, Nadya, you need to act pitiful. . . A poor victim of a crazy witch and to make it more belivable. . ."

Nadya flinched and held tears back as the witch created a big burn mark across her arm. Then the smell of burnt hair tickled her small nose and she looked up at her reflection fearfuly. Her once beatiful black mane had been reduced to a damaged, boy lenght hair. Although it did make her look more pitiful, Nadya only had one word in mind as her and her reflection made eye contact.

_Freak_

"Well you're ready now. . . Don't dissapoint me, my dear Nadya,"And in a cloud of smoke, Casey was gone.

**(So it's summer and schools been out and i thought I would update more and more since I would have more free time. Well soon after getting out of school my brain went into complete shut down, and I suffered from the worst case of writers block. Luckily I'm slowly recovering and though this chapter is probably not my best I just had to type while ideas actually made sense in my head. Sorry for the super late update, won't happen again I promiisee!)**


	4. Sleepless Night

Chapter 4-Sleepless night

Lloyd paced the lenght of the bounty back and forth. He hadn't been able to get any sleep after dinner, there was a uneasy feeling developing in his stomach that wouldnt allow him to relax. After minutes of intense tossing and turning he remembered one of Fritz Donnegan's powers was his ability to smell trouble before it sneaked up on him, otherwise known as 'Hero senses'. Thinking that maybe Lloyd had acquired the same powers as his hero he decided to step outside and stand watch just in case evil was once again lurking in Ninjago's shadows.

As he walked, he worked on the powers he _knew _he'd acquired after the whole mess with his purple-scaled nemesis and the golden lake. After Lloyd had kissed naomi, a memory that was fresh in his mind and could still cover his body with awkward goosebumps, all the power that was destroying her body went into Lloyd's instead. With the help of his golden dragon the green ninja was able to hold the power in without any lethal concecuenses. Long story short, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon was now able to destroy and construct as he pleased. Of course, since his body was already filled with his elemental powers, it took a lot of energy and focus to create anything plus Lloyd had also made a personal promise not to ever step into the dark path of destruction. He was a hero after all.

Below Lloyd's footsteps, Cole was having his own problems. He could feel the evil getting stronger, fighting hard to take over whenever the ninja let his guard down. The evil was getting stronger and it could take over again any second if he didn't stay on guard. Nightmeres flashed on the back of his eyelids relentlesly and Cole fought to keep sleep at bay even though his eyes watered everytime him yawned and he could almost feel the bags under his eyes growing bigger with each second.

He couldn't tell anyone anything. They'd ask questions, too many questions.

_Are you alright?_

_How long has it been going on?_

_What do you feel like?_

_Is it safe to be around you?_

With every question Cole would grow from annoyed to angry. Then anger would turn to fury. Then fury would make him snap into an evil monster and he feared that his nightmere would come true. He wished there was someone _anyone_ that could help him without first interrogating. Noami? He would drown in her Are-You-Ok questions. Lloyd? He'd press for details the throw some Are-You-Ok questions for Naomi's sake. Sensei? He'd get angry that Cole hadn't spoken up sooner. Misako? She'd probably treat him like a science experiment and ask a lot of How-do-you-feel stuff.

Cole jumped up into a sitting position. Maybe there w_as_ someone he could talk to.

Misako's sister! How could he not have thought of it? Sure she had kind of freaked him out when he first saw her at the hospital, but the other ninja had told him how incredible powerful she was. She would definetly have a cure for the poison and even if he snapped in front of her there was no way he could do much harm to the pyromaniac witch.

While Cole changed into his outfit, Naomi finally managed to ignore the pain in her anckle long enough to fall asleep. Her dream wasn't pleasant at all though.

_She was in a dark wooden cabin, Lloyd her brother and a girl stading close behind her. Something moved in the shadows before her and a sharp pain pressed her hard into the wood._

_Blood splattered everywhere. Darkening her vison._

_A voice whispered something but she couldn't understand. Heat and smoke surrounded her and she felt fire licking her skin._

_"Do it _now!"_Her brother's voice yelled from somewhere._

_"I can't," Lloyd's voice was shaking." I can't!"_

_The scene changed and she stood in a dark room, Dirt tickling her bare feet. A deep voice echoed around her._

_Find the keys within a rhyme_

_And the devil's box is near_

_Find the blood within her life_

_And the devil's box is here_

Naomi jumped up, sweat trickling down her hair. It took a second for her eyes to grow accostumed to the darkness and a couple more for her mind to remember where she was. Naomi frowned when her dream slowly trickled back into her memory.

_One of those dumb dreams again _Naomi sighed _what the heck could it be this time?_

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe the pain in her anckle had created a nightmere and maybe she had just eaten too much at dinner. Either way she didn't think she should wake everyone and tell them about the dream. If it turned out to be nothing, she would once again be labeled as a crazy immature kid and they'd never think of her as a ninja.

No, she couldn't tell anyone. Not anyone inside the bounty that is. If she could just sneak into the forest and talk to Casey maybe the witch would be able to explain her dream. If it was nothing it wouldn't be as bad as dissapointing the sensei and if it w_as _important she could go back to the others with a mind full of information and they'd see how grown up she really was.

Slipping into her shoes Naomi tip toed out into the hallway only to bump into her beloved brother.

"Naomi? The heck are you doing up?" He muttered.

_Nothing _Her hands said, knowing it would be quiter than talking.

"Well the go back to bed..."

Naomi thought for a second. She could probably trust his brother, besides she was kind of terrified of seeing Casey alone.

_Ok it's not nothing, I had a creepy dream again like the one i had when Pythor began to come after me. It might be nothing but I was going to Casey's to see if maybe she knew something. . ._

"You're smart. . . heading to a witch's house alone. . .," Cole had to fight back a smile. What kind of insane coincidence was this?

_Well come with me then_

"Well I guess I'll have to,"

They both stepped out onto the deck, where Lloyd was still pacing. After a couple of minutes of Naomi insisting that nothing was up and Lloyd pressuring her to talk because he knew there was something going on, The purple eyed girl told the green ninja everything and ,of course, he went along with Naomi and her brother.

And so the three of them walked straight into Casey's plan just like she had predicted.

**(Oh mah god sorry for the sudden sudden chappy ending but mom takes my computer at nine and i just haaad to type all this and i have 4 minutes to upload so anyway yeah sorry )**


	5. Into the flames

Chapter 5-Into the flames

"This forest is too creepy," Lloyd shuddered trying to keep up with Naomi's quick footsteps.

"Really Lloyd?" Naomi rolled her eyes. " With all your strenght and you're s_cared_?"

"Scared? I never said I was scared."

"You said it was creepy,"

"That doesn't mean I'm scared I was just pointing out the fact that this forest could try to look nicer." Lloyd stuttered.

Cole walked fast ahead of them trying to keep his anger hidden. Lloyd's and Naomi's voices were rather irritating but as a ninja his self control was strong and he could deal with it from here until the dark meanacing shape of Casey's treehouse appeered in the horizon.

Suddenly Lloyd stopped. "You guys feel that?"

Naomi shook her head. The black ninja froze and tried to figure out what Lloyd was talking about. He was seconds away from turning and questiong the young ninja when he felt it too. It was a subtle changed in the atmosphere, one he would have never noticed without his training. The air around them had somehow grown thicker and there was a faint rumbling beneath his feet. Then he spotted it. A weak orange glow surrounding the trees in front of him.

"Fire," Cole's muscles tightened and he got ready to run, but Lloyd and Naomi stood rooted to the spot.

"That must mean we're close,"The green ninja said before he continued walking.

"Oh yeah she likes playing with fire a lot," Naomi explained when he saw the confusion in Cole's face." It's kinda creepy, it was funny when she burned Kai's hair though."

"But it's a forest, isn't kind of idiotic to use fire here of all places?" Cole still hadn't moved. The fire was sending alarm sirens ringing all through his body.

"She can control it really well though," The purple eyed girl tried to get her brother to move but her insiticts send goosebumps through her pale skin. There was something wrong with this fire. The smoke was too close, too thick and the heat was cloaking her skin in sweat. This wasn't one of Casey's fires. This fire was out of control.

"Lloyd!" She yelled before falling into a coughing fit. "Get Back!"

Lloyd didn't need to be told twice. The smoke was already forcing his eyes to tear up."What do you think happened?"

"Why the hell do you care? Just run little brat!" Cole pulled Lloyd forward forcing him to start running along with him. The green ninja ran faster and was quickly leading them out of the forest.

"Help!" An echoe traveled through the forest and into Cole's well trained ear. He stopped and Naomi did the same. He listened intently, trying to block out the far louder sounds of the fire. Once again he heard the shout. There was something about it that triggered his brain to run forward, into the flames arms, without stopping.

"Cole!"Naomi ran after her brother, and Lloyd was forced to follow. The smoke was everywhere now, so thick that it was imposible to know where they were going.

"Naomi s_top!_" Lloyd pulled her arm back, using as much strenght as he dared. "We need to get out _now_,"

A nearby branch fell blocking Naomi's path between her and her brother. She tried to run through it,The only thing she could think of was getting her brother back, But Lloyd's firm grip held her back. "Let me _go!"_

"No, Naomi we have to get out,"The green ninja was desperate, careful as he could, Lloyd picked up the purple eyed kicked. She punched. She yelled words that with meanings Lloyd couldn't even begin to guess at. Still the green ninja ran forward, until they were safely out of the forest and into the cool night's embrace.

Once the adrenaline was slowly drained away Naomi felt the sharp pain in her anckle growing larger. Her worry for Cole overpowered the pain though, so she stood, looking small and scared, staring hard at the meanacing smoke that had trapped Cole in its destructive clutches.

Lloyd frowned. He thought he could see a figure slowly coming closer. "Naomi look,"

Purple eyes followed Lloyd's finger and her heartbeat sped up. She trotted a little closer until she could make out her brother's thick hair. Something stopped her from running into his arms, even though she would've loved nothing better than to hug her sibling tight just to asure herself that he was real.

Problem is, there was already someone occupying his muscled arms.


	6. Nadya

Chapter 6-Nadya

When Nadya's brain slowly slipped back into conciussness, she cursed Casey with everyword she knew.

_She should've told me she would set the damm house on fire_

I guess it had made her cry for help a bit more genuine if her legs had been pinned down while fire surrounded her, waiting its turn to devour her light brown skin. The smoke had caused her mind to shut down but not before a spotting a silhouette against the bright fire. Hopefully it had been one of the ninja like Casey had predicted, but at this moment, with her body and head throbbing with pain, Nadya didn't really trust the witch's judgement. Before opening her eyes she started planning what kind of angle she would play with the ninja. She needed to blame Casey for using her as an experiment, which was very much true, to explain the lines of purple scales in her face. So perhaps the best thing would be to act like scared helpless damsel in disstress.

Nadya almost smiled. This was going to be so very entertaining.

She allowed her black eyes to open then moaned a little when she spotted a figure nearby. Upon closer infection she recognized the shape as the green ninja. Once again she had to force a smile back. One of her targets stood a couple of feet away, looking small and vulnerable. Nadya wasn't an idiot though, she knew the boy possessed incredible strenght and even with her powers she might wind up dead if she did anything to harm him now. But she could tell by the way his green eyes sparkled that his soul was still young and held onto a couple of fragments of his shattered innocence, so Nadya knew the kid couldn't be as smart as her.

Which meant maybe she could get the kid to spit out his weaknesses.

"Ugh. . . Where am I. . ?" Her voice was tired and hurt, something she didn't exactly have to have to fake.

"You're awake!" He said making in hard for Nadya not to snap a sarcastic _oh really? _at him. "You're with us at the bounty. . . What's the last thing you remember?"

Amnesia! She could totally play up to that angle! "I. . . I don't know. . .There was a woman. . .then everything hurt. . . but that's all,"

"Maybe you saw Casey, was her hair really really red and really really long?"

So the little green ninja wasn't exactly good at describing things. That could eventually come in handy. ". . . I I th-think so. .."

"Do you remember what happened to your face?"

Nadya stopped for a second. To Lloyd it seemed as if she was trying hard to remember but she was actually trying to figure out wether she should tell him or not. Then she remembered that Misako, Casey's annoyingly good sister, was with these people. She would probably recognized her, Nadya remembered how Misako had yelled at Casey for trying to combine serpentine blood into a child's body while Nadya watched, half hidden behind Casey's orange dress.

Pushing the memory aside, She decided to keep playing the I-am-innocent-and-remember-nothing part. "Wh-whats wrong with it?"

The girl seemed on the verge of tears, which freaked out Lloyd a little. She couldn't deal with girls crying. "Uh. . . No-Nothing I'll. . . I'll get the others,"

Nadya forced herself to sit up once the green ninja had gone. There were a couple of nasty burns here and there but nothing too bad. She had definetly been through worst. She reached up to touch her boy short hair and some tears almost slipped from her shuddering eyelids.

_It's just hair Nadya don't be such a baby _She took a deep breath that eneded up transforming into a body shattering sigh _Well I got another thing about the little green idiot, he's extremly sensitive._

Sensitive meant that she could gain his trust easily and trust meant they could be alone together at some point. Which of course meant that he'd be dead faster than anyone could say _green_.

The green kid walked back in followed by a strong guy with thick black hair almost resembling hers. After him came a small girl which Lloyd kept looking at every five seconds revealing her as number three of Lloyd's the dark-haired miniature came and old man with an extremly Long beard and wise, knowing eyes that seemed to x-ray her mind when they came in contact with her own dark eyes. Nadya inmidiutly marked him as a walked in another guy, with strong handsome features that resembled those of the green ninja. After him finally came Misako, Looking so genuinly worried it almost made Nadya gag.

"Nadya! You're awake oh sweetie it was my sister wasn't it. . .? I should've taken you away when I could. . . I am so sorry. . ."Misako caught Nadya in a tight hug.

_Get off me old woman _Nadya thought _At least I can pretend I don't remember you_

"You know her Misako?" The old man said with a touch of sweetness in his tone. So Misako was _his _weakness. This was starting to get too easy.

"Yes Wu. . . My sister kidnapped her a long time ago and tried to do some experiment on her. . ."

_Kidnapped? I prefer the term _saved _from turning into a pile of niceness and love _Nadya snickered inside her head.

"That would explain that thing on her face. . ." The black-haired guy muttered. The harsh honesty in his voice made Nadya flinch and she slowly looked up at the guy with a hurt expression that was once again not entirely faked. A flash of crimson streaked past his brown eyes.

_So you're our soon to be weapon huh? Might as well start pulling you closer then_

"Was it you that got me out of the fire. . .?"She asked using the sweetest voice she could.

"Yeah,"He shrugged,"You were in trouble so well, that's what ninjas do."

"You remember him now?" Asked the gray-haired guy who looked sligthly like the green ninja." Seems like your little 'Amnesia' is wearing off,"

_Damm it _Thought Nadya but she didn't show anything. Her features were still those of a scared vulnerable damsel. "It's slowly coming back. . . My head hurts terribly though. . ."

"Garmadon leave her alone, she's tired," Misako whispered, elbowing her husband.

"I don't trust her if she has anything to do with Casey. . . But we should leave her alone, Especially,"He turned towards Lloyd an angry expression on his face."Because I need to talk to Lloyd,Cole and Naomi,"

Cole looked at Garmadon, trying to spit out an insult that might show the others the evil was still within him. With his gaze fixed on the floor he followed him Naomi and Lloyd out into the bounty's deck.

Garmadon turned to face his son and other two. The anger in his face was somewhat frightening and Lloyd could see the traces evil had left in his face. The green ninja fidgeted with his suit, bracing himself for his father's interrogation. "So tell me, Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, What the _hell _were you three thinking, heading out to Casey's house which is the middle of a _deadly _forest in the middle of the _damm _nigth!?


	7. Separate Paths

Chapter 7- Separate Paths

"Then Cole came out of the fire carrying the girl," Naomi repeated her story, this time with a wise eyed wu as an audience. First she had narrated the story in front of Lloyd's father since the ever so brave green ninja had fallen into a tongue-tying spell after hearing the dangerous edge in garmadon's voice. Her brother hadn't been much help either because Cole had decided to turn on his attitude and keep his arms crossed throughout the questioning, refusing to answer anything that required more than one syllable.

While Garmadon had seemed more concerned with Casey's whereabouts, Sensei Wu looked at Naomi's words with a different light.

"Interesting. . .,"He muttered stroking his long beard. " What were the words in your dream again?"

"_Find the keys within a rhyme, And the devil's box is near, Find the blood within her life, And the devil's box is here._" Naomi answered half hoping the words from her dream turned out to be something big once more, so she wouldn't end up looking like a paranoid child in the ninja's eyes. Her other more mature, or perhaps more cowardly, side prayed that they would never have to deal with anything called 'The devil's box'.

Wu turned towards Misako, his eyes questioning her knowledge. "What do you make of all this?"

"Well first of all they were in the right track for wanting to question my sister." Misako pushed her graying hair from her eyes. "When we were little, she would always sing something about the devil's box. To me it seemed as if she was playing, just a simple nursery rhyme but now that I understand the words I'm not so sure what to make of it anymore,"

"And how does it go?" Lloyd finally spoke up, out of curiosity winning a _oh NOW you can talk huh? _look from Naomi who's throat was still grumpy after being forced to spit out an excessive amout of words.

Lloyd's mother frowned, trying to remember the exact words. After a couple of seconds she spoke up, the tone in her voice sounding dark and eerie.

_One of Fire,Two of blood_

_Three in storm, Four trapped in flood_

_Five entwined in anger, Six soaked within hate_

_Seven's what you fear, Evil lives in eight_

_Nine will cause you sorrow, Ten burning with pain_

_Eleven holds death's hand, Twelve life again_

_Twelve little keys for the devil's box_

_Open and consume the soul's of the world_

There was complete silence after she half whispered the last words, broken only by Garmadon's chuckle. "Seriously? It's just a dumb song your sister made up we should be more worried about the fact that she burned down a forest,"

"It is somewhat mystifying that Casey should burn down the forest that had served her as a home for so many years but we cannot ignore the fact that Naomi had a prophecy dream once more. Last time this happened we almost lost the world to Pythor's hands." Sensei Wu stood, a firm grip tightened around his bamboo staff. " We cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard once more."

"So what, brother, you're going to go on a wild goose chase based upon a nursery rhyme?" Garmadon rolled his eyes.

"The first line, 'One of fire', makes me think that maybe we will have to return to the temple of fire. It's a possibility that it will turn out to be nothing at all but we need to be safe rather than sorry." Sensei Wu replied, staring into his brother's eyes.

"I still think we must go back to the forest and try to locate Casey, It would definetly be easier than what _you're _planning."

Misako stood up, separating the siblings. " How about this, Half of us go and check for anything in the temple of fire while the other half heads to the forest."

Garmadon open his mouth, ready to continue his argument but after catching his wife's eyes he yielded to her idea. "Alright then, but you're coming with me."

Misako nodded trying not to roll her eyes. "Of course, I'll go with you and Lloyd I'd prefer you came with us too."

"Ok so Naomi comes with us too," The green ninja said but was stopped by his uncle.

"No, Since she was the one with the dream in the first place I think she would be more useful sticking with me."

A small bubble of anger rose up in Naomi's chest. It wasn't exactly fair how the other's got to decide where she would go without consulting her at all. It made her feel like she was just an object in the other's eyes.

In the end, Kai, Jay, Zane and Naomi stayed with sensei and headed off to the temple of fire. Misako, Garmadon, Lloyd and Cole headed to the burned down forest to look for clues as to what Casey had been thinking when she started a fire of such dangerous magnitude. Nya chose to stay behind with the girl, so that she could get more rest.

Not to far away, Casey headed off to her own destination. Sensing that the ninja had separated, just as her mind had planned long ago, She smiled.

It would be much easier to weaken her enemies now.

**(So umm... I hadn't updated for a **_**long **_**time and I once more have to apologize. I will probably update once more tomorrow once I decide whos chapter I should do first. Garmadon and his search for Casey? Wu going after the first 'key'? Or maybe Nya as she deals with Nadya's poisonous words?)**


	8. Insecurities

Chapter 8-Insecurities

Nadya sat up, listening in to the other's conversation. The small amount of serpentine blood running throughout her body made her senses stronger, allowing her to hear every breath and every words the other's muttered as if they were standing right in front of her instead of two rooms away.

They barely mentioned her at all. If they did they only refered to her as 'The girl', so she was safe so far. And now she'd done half of her job. She had the words from the purple-eyed girl that Casey would need.

From what she understood, half of the ninja were going off to the woods like Casey had predicted they would. There they would probably find the map the witch had drawn revealing the locations of all the 12 keys. The other half had headed of right into Casey's clutches, into the temple of fire in which the witch's energy grew stronger than ever.

She'd also noticed multiple things from the conversation. One of the most important was that there seemed to be a spark of rivalry between the one called garmadon and the bearded guy. That would come in very handy if she decided to not only kill their strongest ninja, but also place mistrust in their hearts and break them apart.

There had also been a possible ally. She had heard the way the talked about the purple eyed girl, as if she was just an obeject or a weapon to be used as they pleased. If the girl had any fighting spirit in her, this kind of treatment would have surely angered her. And Nadya knew perfectly well how to use anger to her advantage.

Nadya her light footsteps approaching. By the sound of them it was a girl, they weren't heavy enough to belong to the ninja. Since the purpled eyed girl had left with the others, it was probably the girl with the red dress. If she remebered correctly, Casey had said she was a samurai.

"Hey," The samuria girl smiled at Nadya. "I'm Nya,"

_Remember Nadya you have to be a sweetheart now_

"Hey Nya," Nadya faked a little shaking in her voice, to seem weak and vulnerable and allow 'Nya' to trust her more easily.

"Well it's just us girls for now," Nya kept a sweet caring smile on her face making it hard for Nadya not to chuckle at her idiocy.

"Oh. . . where did the others go?" Even though Nadya already knew the answer, it would've been suspisious if she hadn't asked.

"Just of somewhere. . .," Nya answered, not ready to give anything away to a stranger." They tend to do that, "

"Leaving girls behind huh?" Nadya smiled slightly, sensing that being left behind was a personal problem in the samurai girl's life.

"Ugh yeah," She rolled her eyes, slowly letting her guard down. "It's mainly my brother Kai, who thinks I can't take care of myself."

Kai. She added that name to the list of her enemies. "Which one is he?"

"The annoying hot tempered one," Nya answered. "He's in the red suit, he mainly uses fire as a weapon."

_He probably isn't as good as Casey_ ."And Cole is the one in black right?"

"Yeah and he's also the leader," The samurai girl revealed causing Nadya's eyebrows to raise. The boy with the evil blood was the leader? This was going to end up being far too easy.

Nadya remembered her plan to get closer to the black haired ninja so she added in a soft whisper barely loud enough for Nya to hear. "And he's also real good looking. . ."

The samurai girl giggled softly."Ha you think so? Personally I think the cutest one of them all is my Jay."

So Jay was the Samurai girl's weakspot. Judging by the way her eyes softened when she mentioned his name she was deep in love with him and love could turn to hate so very easily. And Hate could be turned in Nadya's favor. "And what color suit does he wear?"

"Blue," Nya said. "And the one in white is Zane while the green ninja is Lloyd,"

Nadya created a mental map of who was who. Then she had the perfect idea to set up the sparks that would ultimetly set Nya and Jay's hearts in destructive fire. "Oh I thought the blue guy, Excuse me, I though _Jay _was with the one called Naomi."

The smile on Nya's face weakened."Well no... what what would make you say that?"

"Well it's just the way he looked at her... but i guess I must've mistunderstood it . . . Sorry," Nadya looked down, cursing herself for not being able to blush at command. A pair of deep red cheeks would have made it all more believable.

But Nya wasn't looking at Nadya anymore. She was looking out the window where, if she looked hard enough, She could spot the cloud of dust the ninja's vehicle made in the sand. Somewhere in there was her Jay sitting peacefully, maybe making a couple of jokes. Or was he really _hers _anymore? Jay _had _been acting rather odd lately and if the new girl had seen a connection between him and Naomi, was Nya just in denial at the fact that she was losing her perfect guy?

**(So as promised here's another chapter! Now I only have 2 to choose from The guy's at the fire temple or Garmadon at the forest? Either way I'm starting to enjoy writing Nadya's character a bit too much... either way hope you enjoyed!)**


	9. In the heart of the forest

**(Even though I haven't updated in forever, This chapter isn't exactly **_**long **_**it was just kinda necessary to create one of those ever so annoying cliffhangers! Either way the chapter I've been dying to write (Sensei and the others at the fire temple!) WILL be coming tomorrow and after that I'll try to stick to my one chapter a week routine)**

Chapter 9-The heart of the forest

Lloyd was the walked far behind the others, sulking at not having been able to go along with Naomi to the fire temple. After saving her life with a kiss, Lloyd smiled at how cliché that sounded in his head, The green ninja hadn't really spent a moment alone with the purple eyed girl. He guessed they were both technically 'dating' even there hadn't been anymore kissing or hand holding involved in their relationship. Lloyd guessed Naomi _must _like him, due to the way she'd turned into a giggle machine after their first kiss, but since she had never directed the word 'boyfriend' at him he didn't really feel like their relationship was anything more than a daydream.

Not too far from her son stood Misako, dealing with her own internal conflict as she followed her husband's footsteps to Casey's treehouse. Misako tried to remember the moment in which her sister had begun the skin of a psychopath. No doubt the extreme amout of power at her command had thrown Casey onto the darker path of life. But there must've been something more, because from the small things Misako remembered about her lousy childhood the one thing that stood out was the goodness in her sisters heart. Sure, Casey had always been a little strange and tended to like things that no other people did but other than that her sister had never hestitaded to sacrifice a couple of things just so that Misako would have the best life she possibly could.

The thought of her childhood made Misako stumble across another fact, Misako loved her sister more than she cared to admit.

_If it came down to me being the only one being able to stop my sister _Misako thought w_ould I ever be able to destroy her for 'the greater good'?_

Just wondering about it made her stomach twist inside of her. It was only at this moment that she finally understood what her son must have gone through when destiny pushed him into battling his own father.

"I still don't see the point of coming back here," Cole muttered with annoyance, walking beside Garmadon.

"The point is to find Casey and ask her what the hells her problem," Garmadon continued walking, spotting the small clearing where Casey's treehouse should be just up ahead.

"First of all I'm pretty sure she wouldn't answer any of your questions," Cole replied. "Second, As my sister kindly told you before, her treehouse _burned down_."

"Just because I'm not evil anymore doesn't mean I can't smack some manners into you. "Garmadon said, the attitude in Cole's voice was beggining to get on his nerves. "Don't try to get smart with me."

"I was just stating the facts,"

Before Cole's words could anger Garmadon, they stepped into the clearing and the former dark lord froze in his tracks staring at the pile of twigs and ashes that had once been Casey's home. "It's burned down,"

Cole managed to bite his tongue and hold back the ever so annoying, _I told you so_

Garmadon turned towards his wife. "Why would she burn down her own home?"

Misako shook her head. "I don't know, but we should look around,"

Garmadon agreed and started walking through the ashes, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might be helpful. Cole did the same, figuring than the faster the looked through the mess the faster they'd be able to head back to the bounty. Lloyd stayed back, refusing to help on something he didn't even want to do in the first place. But even his sulking eyes couldn't ignore the corner of a piece of an aging paper sticking out of the black ashes.

He bent over to pick it up, wondering how it had made it through the inferno. Lloyd's green eyes widened with recognition when the paper revealed itself to be the map of the serpentine tribes he had rescued from the hypnobrai tomb what seemed to be centuries ago. This time he noticed something else in the map. Apart from the four snakes drawn in the serpentine's locations there were seven more smaller marks scattered across ninjago. Even though the paper was old and hard to read, the marks were easily recognized as drawings of keys.

But that wasn't the thing that jumped out at Lloyd's eyes. The thing that mad his heart beat faster and his palms sweaty was the fairly recent red writing in the map. It circled the temple of fire, in which a key symbol was written, and said in sloppy red letters.

_One in fire._

Lloyd showed the map to his mom, who then showed it to Garmadon and Cole. Looking at the worry in his parents eyes, he said. " Uncle Wu was right wasn't he? And now Casey's heading to the others!"

"We need to head there as fast as we can," Misako said then started heading to the bounty.

As Lloyd's mom pocketed the old man, the green ninja frowned slightly. It could have been the way the shadows fell across the paper, or perhaps it was only the worry in his heart, but the letters seemed to have changed. His skin went cold after reading the new words.

_One dies in fire._


	10. One in fire

Chapter 10-One in fire

Naomi trudged along behind the others, her ankle still throbbing with every step. She was still mad at Sensei wu for pretty much forcing her to go along with them. Hadn't she saved the world about a month ago? _And _she had also risked her life in the process. So didn't Naomi deserve a little break? Her life had gone from being her grandparent's cinderella, To being chased down by a purple psychopath, then saving the world, and ,after perhaps two days of 'well done's and 'you're really brave's she was thrown into intense ninja training and being treated like a child once more. She was starting to get really angry about it, following orders wasn't exactly something she was happy about.

And Jay wasn't making matters any easier.

He walked beside her, his mindless chatter giving Naomi a slight headache. "You know I really hope Casey is in the fire temple, it'd give me a chance to show off my skills and scare her off,"

"hmmm," Naomi muttered forcing herself to keep walking even though the pain on her ankle was getting worst.

"Fire's a good weapon and all but you really can't beat lighting," Jay continued. "It's _fast _and you can't hurt what you can't catch"

"But Jay, Casey would need only catch you to stop you and you aren't as fast as light." Zane pointed out rather unhelpfully.

"Well yes, that's true but I could probably beat her if I wanted to, I'm stronger," Jay smiled flexing his muscles. "And definetly more attractive wouldn't you agree Naomi?"

"I don't see how being strong or attractive would help you against a witch," Naomi said.

"Well if she got close enough, I'd punch her," Jay continued.

"Then she would snap her fingers and burn you to a crisp," Kai butted in. " Which would do us all a favor since it would finally shut you up,"

"Whatever," Jay sulked, it would be impossible to win if everyone was ganging up on him. "I'm still better looking though,"

"And I don't care," Kai spat back, smacking the blue ninja on the head.

Kai and Jay continued their bickering all the way to the temple of fire. Naomi found this very entertaining (Especially the few minutes in which both ninjas were stuck in the 'you're stupid' 'No _you're _stupid' routine) but she still wished she had been allowed to stay back at the bounty and rest a bit.

The fire temple was still half destroyed from their last battle with the serpentine over the third fang blade. Sensei Wu easily traveled over the piles of rocks leaving his students struggling behind.

Once they were all in, sensei ordered them to look around knowing that there was something hiding within the walls of the temple. Naomi, who by this time could barely stand, stayed back refusing to help on something she didn't even want to do in the first place.

Sensei looked at the purple eyed girl and walked to her. "Why aren't you helping Naomi? This is important, we must find these keys, if Casey is after them they are surely important."

"No offense sensei, but I think Garmadon might have been right, we don't even know if they exist in the first place," Naomi answered trying to keep the annoyance in her vocie in the low side, so as not to seem disrespectful. " And I don't-"

A loud crashing sound drowned Naomi's voice. A hole open in the temple's roof and Casey glided inside, her feet walking on air. She smiled widely at seeing the ninja, the girl and the old man rigth in her clutches. "What a nice reunion this is! Too bad the little green ninja couldn't join us, I would have loved to test the pipsqueak's strenght,"

"Why are you here Casey?" Wu asked calmly, looking for emergency exits his ninja could use if things got too ugly.

"Oh I thought you would've figured it out by now silly man," Casey landed onto the rock. "I'm here for one of the keys for that beautiful devil's box"

"So they _are _real," Naomi said softly, thinking about the words from her dream.

"Of course they're real, but they each require a blood sacrifice before being revealed," The witch smiled. "Alright who's gonna volunteer to be my sacrifice?"

Casey created a sharp knife out of thin air, She waved it around a little getting use to its light weight.

"I cannot allow you to harm any of my students," Sensei stepped in front of Naomi, closer to Casey. "And I'm afraid I won't let you take the key either."

"Well I'm not exactly asking for permission from you, grandpa." Casey pointed at Naomi. "You girl, seem like a good option."

An invisible forced lifted Naomi of her feet, throwing her hard against the rock in front of Casey. She struggled to stand, refusing to go down without a fight. Before she could do anything crazy, however, Kai ran towards Casey swinging his fire sword at her body.

Casey sighed, seeing the attack coming long before it could hit her. She sent the ninja of fire flying back with a flick of her wrist. "Really, Kai, seeing as too how you're a fire lover like me I expect a bit more from you."

Taking advantage of the distraction, Sensei Wu spinjitzued toward the dangerous witch hoping to catch her off-guard. Casey felt the wind coming from behind her and turned just in time to reach through the Sensei's golden tornado and grab onto his white clothing. Sensei's eyes widened, no one had been able to touch his spinjitzu without being wounded.

"Please, just stop trying and make both your and my life easier," Casey said, throwing Sensei Wu's body across the temple with incredible force. His body hit the wall, then fell against the ground with a cracking sound. After that, Sensei Wu's body stayed still.

"Sensei!" The three ninja screamed, but instead of running after Sensei's wounded body they stuck to their training and continued to battle. Jay nodded at Zane and they both ran at Casey while Kai went to retrieve his fire sword which had fallen dangerously close to the small pools of lava scattered around the temple.

Casey sent a giant lighting bolts at Jay's body laughing at the irony at defeating the ninja with his own wepon. Whitout losing time she snapped her finger, merely for dramatic effect since she could easily use her powers whitout physical contact, at Zane, melting his vital circuits causing him to shut down.

"Well now that that's over with," Casey looked at Naomi, using her mind to push her up to her feet. Naomi struggled, but her muscles weren't working for her. She had watched helplessly as Casey took each of the others down one by one, reminding her of that horrible day above the golden peaks, in which Pythor had made everyone disapear with his new powers.

Just like that day, Naomi wasn't seen as a threat which gave her a chance for a surprise attack that the others wouldn't be capable off. She just had to use her brain and her surroundings. Luckily for her, Casey was standing coviniently close to a pool of lava.

_Once she's distracted I'll just push her over the edge _Naomi thought _It won't be so hard_

Casey swung her knife, slashing open the lower part of Naomi's arm, splashing blood everywhere causing the purple eye girl to grow pale. With the pain flooding Naomi she couldn't think straight and stayed on the ground once Casey had released her.

When the blood ran down to where the sword of fire had once been, the walls of the temple began to shudder,revealing a small opening in which lay a small golden key.

Casey smiled staring at her prize. Behind her, Naomi clutched her arm against her chest trying to get her vision and mind to cooperate with her. Reaching out with her unwounded arm, Naomi pulled Casey's firey red dress to the side, tipping her off-balance. The witch's surprise lasted only for a second and she managed to fly upward before her body could hit the wonderfully deadly lava.

Casey looked down at Naomi's bleeding body. "Oh child why would you go and do that? I guess now I'll have to punish you . . ."

Kai stood over Naomi, holding his sword in a offensive position the shooting a blast of flames at Casey. "You won't touch her again, Casey."

The witch rolled her eyes then easily waved away the fire. "Really Kai? I thought you'd learned your lesson."

She landed in front of Kai, her hair glowing brighter flames clothing her slender hands. "But if you insist kai. . . I'll teach you what real fire feels like."

With a sly smile, Casey lifted her hand sending a wall of flames over Kai's body.


	11. Guilt & Jealousy

**(WOW Just five days into junior year and I'm already dying! My fault for taking AP classes but whatever. . . I WANT TO TYPE AGAIN GODJESUS IVE MISSED IT SO)**

Chapter 11- Guilt & Jealousy

Lloyd paced back and forth on the main room of the ship. A few feet before him stood Nya, guiding the ship through the air with as much speed as she could possibly accumulate. Her hands were sweaty with the nerves that her worrying was causing. Moments before, when she had spotted Lloyd and the others running towards the ship her heart began to hammer violently. Something wasn't right.

The green ninja arrived first. "We need to go back to the temple of fire _now_ the others are walking into a trap!"

When the cold facts reached Nya's ears her mind went numb. But even though her thoughts jumped wildly about with questions over Jay's and Kai's well being, her body's autopilot system quicked in and she mechanically got the ship started. As they traveled through the clouds the sick feeling that was rooted at the pit of the samurai's stomach grew, the thoughts of worry bombarding her brain all had the same messege. Something wasn't right.

Cole felt the same way as Nya. A bad sensation was slithering throughout his mind and he every second that passed he regreted the decision of allowing her sister to go somewhere without him. Naomi was like a magnet for trouble and if her big brother wasn't there to protect her, Who would?

"Nya how much longer?" Lloyd blabbered impatienly for the thousand time. His pacing grew quicker and his steps grown louder. He'd seen what Casey's powers could do once, how she almost pulverized Pythor's old army with a flick of her wrist. He didn't want to think about what would happen to anyone who stood against her. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Naomi if she tried to play the hero again and try to stop Casey.

"Lloyd I swear if you ask me that again I will-"Nya stopped in the middle of her threath as she spotted the fire temple growing larger in the horizon. "There it is!"

Lloyd and Cole both ran out to the deck. The green ninja nerveously tighten the belt around his suit, trying to empty his mind before a battle that was sure to come. The ninja of earth held his sword tightly wondering if it would be of any use against a witch.

"How about we take the express entrance?" Cole smiled at Lloyd, climbing onto the side of the ship.

"Wait what?" Lloyd looked up at Cole, then watched him jump down into the temple crashing straight through the roof. "Wait!"

Lloyd jumped into the temple the ninja of earth had made before him. Unlike Cole, however, Lloyd's landing wasn't anything near graceful. Casey, who had predicted the ninja's entrance long before Cole even thought of it, wasn't startled but, luckily for Kai, she stopped her fire to face her newest opponents.

Naomi's eyes were glued on Kai's body. His suit was burned off in most places, revealing the red skin beneath. The worst part of it all were his arms. Reflexes had forced Kai to protect his face anyway he could so both his arms had taken a direct hit of the fire. Naomi felt a sick twist in her stomach when she saw something that looked too much like a bone peeking through the charred skin of his forearms. His cheeks had skin peeling off and one of his ears had been completly burned off, along with some of his hair.

The purple eyed girl dug her nails unto her palms, not stopping even after a warm trickle of blood started to flow through her small hands. She'd hurt someone again. This was her fault. First her grandparents had died for her. Then Lloyd had nearly bled to death in order to protect her. The Naomi had allowde Cole to slip from her grasp and fall into a coma. She kept hurting people anywhere she went. For a second, after helping the ninja defeat Pythor, she had thought it was all over, and no one would be forced to get hurt due to her stupidity. But nothing had changed. Naomi was right back were she started.

"Well Naomi look at this!" Casey smiled at Lloyd and Cole. "You're a rather popular girl, more and more guests keep arriving at our little party!"

Cole looked at the unconssious bodies of the other ninjas, then froze at Sensei's body. "What have you done. . ."

"Oh that," Casey shrugged. "They were being rather naughty so I was forced to teach them a little lesson."

The witch reached into the wall and pulled out the first of the twelve keys. It one smooth movement she threw it towards Lloyd, who caught it with a confused look. "You know I realized that none of you are any match for me, so I'll give you a sporting chance at beating me by letting you think the first key."

Casey bowed at Lloyd. "I look forward to seeing you again, Maybe next time I'll get to see how good you are at fighting."

And in a second, she had disapeeared.

There was nothing else Naomi would have enjoyed better than running to his brother's arms and have him hold her, and assure her everything would turn out alright. But everything was _not _alright. She stood slowly, the world spinning around her due to the loss of blood. "We need to get Kai to a hospital quick,"

None of the them were allowed anywhere near Kai.

The open wounds the fire had caused were too sensitive, and could be infected easily. And the ninja of fire was barely holding onto life as it was. Through the glass that faced into Kai's room, the other's could see the giant machines hooked up all over the ninja's body.

Sensei was still recovering, his old body couldn't heal as fast as before. But that didn't stop Wu from calling a meeting to decide what their next move should be. He had been studying the map for a while now, and thought he knew exactly where they should be heading. Problem was, Sensei Wu wouldn't be able to accompany his students this time.

Jay and Nya stood as far apart from each other as the small room would allow them to. The night before Nya's insecurities had made her snap, making a big fuzz about a small problem. It started right after Jay had recovered. He hadn't known about Kai so his first instinc wasn't to run to Nya's arms to make sure she was alright after seeing her brother in the state he was in.

No, after waking up back at the bounty, the first thing Jay saw was Naomi, leaning against the wall of the hallway an angry expression in her face accompanied by a pair of tearful eyes. Naomi had told her everything, and Jay tried to comfort her the classic 'it-isn't-your-fault' sermon accompanied by a hug. After that Jay had hurried to find Nya, who had unluckily heard his conversation with Naomi.

"Hey Nya," Jay tried to smile but was taken aback by the angry expression on his girlfriend's face.

"What do _you _want?"

He tried to ignore the anger and keep his voice in a sweet tone, knowing Nya needed comfort, not a fight. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up,"

"Oh I'm _fine _." Nya muttered, the poisounous jealousy in her brain reminding her how Jay had gone to comfort Naomi first, instead of running straight to Nya. "Why don't you check on _Naomi _ instead?"

"Naomi?" Jay frowned, wondering what in the world was going on through the samurai's head.

"Yeah, since you care about her so much," Nya turned away then started quoting Jay's conversation with Naomi. "_Don't worry it isn't your fault_,_ Kai's going to be ok you'll see, Just _smile _Naomi you look better that way,_"

Jay's head was trying to process how comforting Naomi had been a mistake. "Well she's our friend and she was sad what was I suppossed to do?"

"Yeah she's your _friend _I'm your _girl_friend don't you think I needed you more than she did at the moment?"

"I didn't. . . I mean I was coming to see you. . . Nya why are you acting like this?"

Nya scoffed. "I'm not stupid Jay I _know _you like her! And you know what you can go get her 'cause we're through!"

The samurai stormed out of the room, leaving Jay to figure out what exactly he had done.

Now as they stood in the hospital room waiting for Sensei to start talking, Jay tried to catch Nya's eye while Nya purpously avoided his.

Nadya watched the now broken couple from outside the hospital room and smiled inside. Casey would definetly be proud of this move. Her eyes wondered over to were Lloyd stood, looking awkward as he debated wether he should put his arm around Naomi or not.

_Ha so shy and innocent. . . First step to destroying him should be taking away his precious girl _

"You can go in you know," Cole said from behind her, snapping Nadya out of her evil thoughts. "It's not like a top secret meeting or anything."

"Oh"Nadya muttered. "I'm not a ninja though"

"Well if you were Casey's prisioner at one point you probably know something that can help us."

_Right 'prisioner' _thought Nadya before saying."I supposse I can help."

"Come on then," Cole opened the door and Nadya stepped inside.

"Ah Cole you're finally here." Sensei smiled. "Hows Zane doing?"

"Well his father is still trying to fix some things, but he should be ready to go in no time."

"Good Good," Sensei nodded. "Well now to the problem at hand. . . As I said before we need to stop Casey from whatever crazy plan she's working on."

He pulled out the smalll key, which glowed sligthly orange. "She wants to collect twelve of these. . . We don't exactly know the purpose of them or what 'The devil's box' is but we know that it's something we definetly don't want open."

"Back at Casey's treehouse Lloyd found a map, has the keys locations."Sensei lifted the map and pointed at the symbol of a key, which was now circled like the one in the temple of it, '_Two in blood' _was written in small letters. "The second key seems to be in Kai and Nya's old hometown."

Nya looked at the map, recognizing her village right away. Suddenly the words '_Two in blood' _seemed a thousand times more threathening than before.


	12. Echoes of childhood

**(So long-ish chapter, I'm in a good mood 'cause it's almost my birthday so no one gets hurt. . . yet! Oh seriously though writers can be so cruel... Either way thanks for reading and enjoy!)**

Chapter 12- Echoes of childhood

Nadya stood leaning against the edge of the ship. Looking down into the moving earth below she felt bubbles rise up from her stomach. While living with Casey, Nadya had gotten to see many wonders that most people wouldn't get to see even if they lived through multiple lifetimes. But to her, nothing compared to this moment, seeing the world from bird's eye view while the cold air tickeld her skin. Evereything worked together to make an unforgettable moment. If she closed her eyes, it was almost as if she were flying on her own, gliding through the air not depending on anyone but herself. The vision of absolute freedom almost brought a smile to her face.

Footsteps brought her back to the world, to the ship, to her mission. She turned, her eyes coming upon the figure of Lloyd's father.

"You've healed incredible fast for someone who couldn't stand less than 2 days ago." He said. The words were washed with suspision yet the man's tone wasn't threathening. Nadya guessed that Lloyd's father was either an extremely good actor, or merely someone who's used to speaking his mind.

"I couldn't stay laying down any longer once I figured out the ship could fly," Nadya answered with the truth.

Garmadon nodded, Accepting her response. " You should go eat something, If you were Casey's prisioner for so long, I wonder if you've ever even had a decent meal in your life."

"Yes," Nadya replied, heading out towards the ship's dining room rather quickly, hoping to escape any further questioning.

They arrived as the day slowly darknened around them, the ship lowering itself toward the hard ground. Down, down, down bringing Nadya to her cold blooded mission. Down, down, sending Nya on a trip of memories as her old home approached. Down came the ship, setting off the timer to all the tragedies that destiny had carefully prepared for them.

Nya was the first to set foot on her old village. Her eyes traveled upon the familiar features of the land. Not too far was the big oak tree which whose branches had served as a lookout post for many of her make-belive adventures. There was the ice cream store that had caused so many stomaches to Kai and Nya's younger selves. Behind the aging church stood the cementery in which Nya's parenst lay in eternal sleep, side by side. And there, just a couple of steps before her, was the blacksmith shop in which Sensei had first found them.

It was actually kind of eerie. They were back to where it had all started, fearing that destiny's ironic humor would turn it into the place where it would all end.

"Nya? Is that you?" The voice of an older woman traveled through the samurai's thoughts. She turned, facing the familiar honey colored eyes of her old neighbor, Gabrielle, who had been there throughout most of Nya's life.

"Gabrielle," Nya faked a smile, her thoughts still being dragged down by the fact that her brother was stuck in a coma. From behind her, Misako walked up to stand beside the samurai.

"What brings you back here? And where's Kai?"

Nya ignored the second question swiftly. "Oh you know we're just trying to save the world again."

Gabrielle smiled, wrinkles lining up beside her caring eyes. "Well before you can do that, how bout you come in? It's getting dark now and you won't be able to save anyone unless you rest those pretty eyes of yours!"

"Well actually. . ." Nya began to say. _Actually I'd rather just get this over I just want to get back to my brother. Actually I just don't want to be here at all._

"That would be great!," Misako said, cutting Nya off. "There's really no point in trying to do anything today."

There was no arguing with either of them. Soon enough everyone was packed inside Gabrielle's small home, eating a fresly cooked meal. No one was complaining though. Especially no Lloyd. After two days of riding a roller coaster of killer emotions, he was glad to finally be able to have a quiet moment to rest his thoughts along with Naomi. Maybe he wasn't brave enough to kiss her again, or even hold her hand, but he didn't necessarily need to do that. He was lucky enough to get to _talk _to her.

Naomi, who was still drowning with guilt, faked the best smile she could as Lloyd sat beside her on the wooden floor, since the table was already crowded with the others, because she didn't want him worrying about her more than he had to.

"Hey," Naomi said once Lloyd had sat down.

"Hey,"He smiled, then took a spoonful of Gabrielle's food. "Wow this is actually pretty good."

"Yeah. . . "Naomi replied, swallowing the food but not really tasting anything, her brain still stuck in the moments in which Kai had stood up to protect her. Why had he done that? Why was Naomi always the cause of trouble?

"Of course it's good!" A small boy with bright blonde hair and soft brown eyes yelled, jumpin up in front of Naomi and Lloyd. "Grandma food is always good , _duuh _."

Lloyd looked at the young boy and smiled. The green ninja was reminded of his own childhood, thanks to the boy's somewhat messy bowl hair cut. And the spark of innocence in the brown eyes hit Lloyd with a strong pang of nostalgia, He missed the way everythign and anything had seemed possible to him as a kid. He'd thought of the world as a playground when in reality it was no more than a war zone. He supressed a sigh as his memory reminded him of the moment in which destiny had crumbled away the rest of his childhood in one cruel move.

"Well you see, I never got to meet my grandmother so I've never had grandma food before," Lloyd finally answered.

"Oh," The boy leaned forward, standing on the tip of his toes, then backwards, putting his weight merely on his anckles. "You can borrow mine then. But only because you're a ninja!"

"What about her?" Lloyd nodded his head towards Naomi.

"Her?" The boy leaned closer to Lloyd, then whispered. " But she's a _girl_."

"But, she knows how to figth too _and _she defeated a real life serpetine once." The green ninja said, his smile growing larger as the boy's eyes widened with amazement.

The boy looked at Naomi. "You fought a s_erpetine_?"

Naomi nodded, truly smiling for a couple of seconds. The way the little boy looked at her, like she was some sort of amazing super hero, brought a blush upon her cheeks. "Yup, an ugly ugly serpetine."

"Wow!"The boy leaned forwards the back again. "Was it big?"

"It was huge!"

"Was it scary?"

"The scariest"

The boy giggled. "Cool!"

Gabrielle, who had been tryign to get some conversations out of Nya throughout dinner, spotted her grandson. "David! What are you doing up? It's way past your bed time mister!"

"But graandmaaa," David wailed. "There's _ninjas _in the house."

"Actually we should probably get some sleep too. "Lloyd said, standing up.

"See? They're going to bed David." Gabrielle said.

"Fine. . ." David said in a grumpy tone.

Later at night, everyone was scattered around the house, swimming deep into the world of dreams. Everyone, that is, except for Nya, who was laying on the warm couch her eyes staring into the empty darkness. No matter how many times she tossed and turned, the sick feeling in her stomach wouldn't leave and three words keep echoing in her mind louder and louder each time. . .

_Two in blood . .._

_Two in blood. . ._

_TWO IN BLOOD_


	13. Fog

**(So for my birthday I went to watch a movie called 'Instructions not included' since it's mostly in spanish its not as well known as other movies in the theater right now but If you like laughing and you like well written storylines, I really recommend you watch it (Be prepared to cry a bit if you're somewhat emotional))(Also yay it's a long chappy! Thanks for reading this far into my story and of course hope you still enjoy it as much as I do!)**

Chapter 13- Fog

A small impatient hand shook Lloyd awake. He frowned, not at all angry at having been pulled out of his dream, since it had started to take the dangerous shape of a nightmere. The green ninja slowly sat up moving his golden mane of his green eyes. Through the darkness of the room he'd been told to sleep in, Lloyd saw the small shape of a child, David or something like that, staring up at him.

"Uh. . . Hi there. " Lloyd said, slightly creeped out by wondering how long the child had stood there.

"Everyone's awake you know, You sleep too much. How can you sleep so much? I think it's boring, I mean you just lay there while there's still so many places to explore. If it was up to me I'd never ever ever sleep." David said in a fast tone, his words merging with one another.

Lloyd smiled, Remembering the not too far off days of his own childhood flinching slightly at the thought of all the time he'd lost. "Belive me kid, once you're trained by sensei Wu you begin to cherish every second of sleep you get."

"Trained? Like to be a ninja? Do you think _I _could be a ninja? I'd be the bestest ninja there is! I'd save the world every day and everyone would say I'm awesome."

"Sure you could be a ninja."Lloyd shrugged his stomach growling, demanding food before setting out to accomplish his newest mission.

_First fang blades, then a weird chalice and now keys, What's next?_ He thought.

When Lloyd walked out everyone had already eaten, and they were waiting for him outside. Cole shot a look at Lloyd before approaching him. "Everyone's ready to go Lloyd, Sensei thinks we should check out the forest since a bunch of villagers agree that there's something not quite right in there."

"But I haven't eaten yet. . ." The green ninja whipered, even though he knew what Cole's answer would be.

"Well you should have thought about that before over sleeping."

"Becareful Lloyd alright?" Naomi half smiled then pulled Lloyd into a tight hug.

"Aren't you coming with us?"

_With my knack of hurting those around me? No of course I'm not coming with you I don't even know why I don't just leave so everyone could be safe _ Naomi said in sign language making sure her back was to Cole.

"Uh all I got from that was 'No' you need to stop doing that so fast."

"That's right I said no I'm not going." Naomi lied, half wishing Lloyd had understood the other half happy that he hadn't.

"Oh well alright."

The ninjas, Sensei, Misako, Garmadon and Nya set out towards the forest. The scenery inside the forest looked normal enough, that is until a thick fog enveloped around them. Cole looked right left right and left. Nothing but white encountered his eyes. They couldn't be too far. They had been together no less than a few seconds ago.

"Guys?" Cole yelled at the nothingness.

"Uh. . . Hello?" Jay said loudly.

"Misako!?" Garmadon shouted.

"Garmadon? Wu?" Misako squealed.

"Cole? Jay? Nya? Lloyd? Misako? Garmadon? Sensei?" Zane questioned his surroundings.

"Dad. . .?" Lloyd wailed.

The multiple screams traveled through the forest. Yet everyon only heard the sound of their own voices.

In the center of it all stood Nadya, Muttering a long spell thickening the whiteness of the fog. Now Casey would have enough time to have a private chat with Nya. And now Nadya would get her own talk with Cole. Before walking towards the ninja of earth she released a small herd of nightmeres to remiend the others the dangers of trying to go up against a witch.

Nadya walked to Cole, allowing only her voice to reach him. "Cole! Thank god I found you!"

Cole turned, relieved to see a familiar face even if it wasn't one of his friends. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Nadya reached up to scratch the scales at her face, then stopped when Cole's eyes focused on her face.

"I know this is probably the worst time to ask this but, What exactly happened to your face?"

Both of them started walking, to 'find the others' even though Nadya tightened the wall of fog whenever they got too close to someone else. "Well. . . It's kind of a long story really I'd merely bore you."

"It's not like there's anything else we can do but talk."

Nadya wondered if she should tell him the truth _truth_. Not a truth covered with lies or a truth half said but the real deal. If everythign went according to plan, Cole would soon be working for Casey so there was really no harm in telling him. Besides, Nadya's heart might have been evil, but she was burdened by her past just like anyone else. Perhaps talking about it would help. Plus she was suppossed to get close to the black ninja. She was still working on her mission.

"I wasn't born like this obviously." Nadya started, still making sure to keep the others away from them. " I barely remember my mom. But I know that we were extremely poor. So poor that my mom decided the best thing to do was sell all of us and herself to slavery, at least that way we'd have food and shelter."

"We stopped at a big mansion,prettiest thing I've ever gotten my eyes on to this day. My mom then faced me and said to stay strong, that someday we'd pull ourselves out of the hellhole we'd been born in. Then I was forced out of the small cart we were in."

"Then the master of the house came out. I don't remember his face too clearly since I've spent pretty much all my life trying to wipe it away. He looked at each of us, deciding who to keep. The one's he didn't like were shot, to erase any evidence that slave trade was still going on. Long story short, I was the only one of my family left."

"Oh" Cole muttered, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. He had obviously stepped into a pool of pain deep enough for him to drown on.

"Eventually I ran away, and that's when I met Casey." Nadya frowned, deciding to skip the part in which she thought of Casey as a mother. Cole couldn't know that. " She then used me for her experiments, injecting me serpetine's blood hoping to form some kind of super human. Instead she was left with this." Nadya gestured at her scars. " A weird freak."

Cole was quiet, Wondering why Nadya had told him so much since they were practically still strangers. He didn't know how to respond to what had to be the worst backstory in the history of all backstories. "You're not a freak. . . Actually those scales make you look kind of badass in a way."

"Sure," Nadya shrugged, even though she began to wonder if she was being a martyr towards her apperance. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe she was just being a big crybaby.

At the left of Cole, right within arms reach stood Nya who was still calling out for her brother even though no one would hear her due to Nadya's powerful spell. Nya looked at her surroundings and fear begin to set in. She was a good fighter and she was smart, but there's always a small amout of panic that forms when there is absolutly nothing but you within eyesight.

The muscles in Nya's body froze when she heard someone clearing their throat. Nya turned, Casey's figure appeering before her.

"Hello Nya," She smiled. "Isn't about time we had some girl bonding time?"


	14. Two in blood

Chapter 14- Two in blood

"Casey." Nya said fearing the nothingness around her more than other threats were hiding behind the white veil?

"Don't be scared. "Casey smiled in a sweet yet creepy way, soothing Nya's mind with a soft spell hidden within her words.

"Why are you here..?" The samurai tried to keep her mind alert, but it was starting to become incredibly numb. Her surroundins seemed to be part of a dream now.

"To make you a deal," The witch stepped forward, her long dress flowing behind her like a wave of fire. "I feel your pain, Nya, You've trusted one with your heard and it got shattered to pieces. Now you know you can't trust anyone."

Casey's eyes seemed distant for a mere second, before she recovered herself. "Everyone learns the hard truth sooner or later. Everything is an illusion, created by humanity to clothe people in a safety net made with lise. The only thing that never tries to hide behind a mask, the only thing that is always true to itself, is chaos."

"Love fades away. Beauty shrivels and fades. Friendship dies. Societies change. Why? Because they are all just illusions and there is no illusion that doesn't get clawed away by time as humanity loses the gift of innocence. But since chaos is truth, it never changes. It is always there, holding up humanity waiting patiently for the best time to strike."

"Still people deny chaos because they're afraid. But sooner or later it will engulf them. All I'm trying to do is open the Devil's box to realease the chaos inside and speed up the process. So that the world will open its eyes and look at the truth. So that no one else will fall victim to the murderous hands of love and the so called 'Greater good'."

Casey held her slender hand towards Nya, whose mind had fallen under the spell of Casey's words. "So. . . Will you help me?"

_She's right _thought Nya _through history good people are always beaten down to the point of insanity. It's always those with a chaotic grip that humanity remembers. And if love really is an illusion, what's the point in fighting for it...?_

Seconds after Nya made contact with the witch's hand, the fog faded away. They were all surprised about the fact that they couldn't have been more than a few meters apart.

"What kind of fog was _that _!?" Lloyd exclaimed. "I could've sworn I was all alone."

"It was probably one of the many powers Casey posseses."Sensei Wu said, watching the fog slithering away.

"This was pointless. . ." Garmadon muttered. "Did anyone even manage to find anythign useful?"

Lloyd instictively clutched his right pocket, feeling the hard cold surface of the second golden key. He'd stumbled upon it through a lucky accident, in which one of the unseen thorn bushes hidden in the fog had sliced open the green ninja's skin, sending droplets of blood onto the dark grass. His shinning blood had then led him to the sparkling key, which began to glow red after absorbing Lloyd's blood.

Yet the green ninja kept quiet. He didn't want the others knowing he had the key. His instincts told him to hold onto it, and Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon had learned to always trust himself.

Looking around, Jay's first thought was that Nya was before he could yell out his worries, Cole interrupted him, pointing towards the village. "Look!"

A thick cloud of smoke had overwhelmed the small houses. Flashes of bright orange fire could be seen here and there. The wind pushed the thick smoke up the ninja's noses, accompanied by the reeking smell of death.

That was enough to get all of them running back to the village. But once they were close enough to do anything, it was rather evident that it was too late.

Lloyd tried not to look at any of the bodies specially after spotting the small boy David laying curled up in a pool of blood. He couldn't worry about them now. He could only thing about one person.

_Naomi Naomi where are you Naomi?_

And then everyone saw smoke dispersed and revealed Casey and Naomi. One with her usual out of place smile and the other with a pair of tortured purple eyes not suited for her age.

"You guys took long enough." Casey stepped closer, pulling Naomi forward along side her. "I was hoping you could help. No matter how much blood I spilled my little key wouldn't show up."

"Casey. . . What is _wrong _with you? I've always tried to understadn you but then you do _this?_" Misako manged to stutter, feeling sick to her stomach.

"Shut up Misako. Let's, for once in your lifetime, Not make this about you ok?" Casey growled at her younger sister. Then she turned to face Lloyd. " Ah. . . Now I see why I didn't find my golden friend. You have it don't you Lloyd? My little key?"

"You have the key Lloyd Garmadon?" Sensei Wu stared at the green eyed child.

"So what if I do..?" Lloyd's voice cracked.

"Well it makes it so much better! I'll do you a favor and let you understand the weight of being a true hero. You may keep the key, letting all these people not have died in vain by not letting me get what I want. Then you may be a true hero and put other's before yourself following the rules of what it is to be the green ninja." Casey turned, then gestured towards Naomi. "If you do that though, I might have a temper tantrum and kill your favorite girl here. So there's the other choice. You can ignore your duties and give me the key to keep Naomi safe. Though of course that would be a very selfish thing to do."

Naomi didn't look at Lloyd. She stared hard at the ground knowing that if her eyes made contact with his he would see that she was pleading him to save her. But that would be wrong. Naomi's life wasn't worth that much. So she kept her gaze low hoping Lloyd would do the right thing.

But Lloyd couldn't. He didn't care what happened to the world at this moment. Besides, they still had the first key in their possession so how much could giving Casey a key cost?

The green ninja true the key at the fire witch. Casey caught it then smiled brighter. "Till next time my little green villian."


	15. Three in storm

**(Here's a long chappy for you guys! I'm kind of working on time management, discipline and blah blah blah blah so I'm going to start updating at a certain time and a certain day, just so I can get used to getting things done! So from now on, Saturdays at 7 or 8! And don't forget to R&R!)**

Chapter 15- Three in storm

Naomi sat against the hard wooden wall. Her eyes where fixed on the passing sky as the bounty flew to a new location. But her mind wasn't focused on the white clouds. Her mind was once again trapped within a turmoil of emotions, a thing that had become daily in the small thirteen year old girl's life.

She made a countdown through all the tragedies she'd caused, even though it wouldn't do any good to her beaten up heart. One, Her grandparent's death. Two, Bringing Pythor to the ninjas. Three, allowing her weakness to almost get Lloyd killed. Four, sending her brother to a hospital. Five, sending _Kai _to the hospital. Six, Not stopping Casey from creating a massacre in the small village. And finally seven, in which her damsel in distress situation had forced Lloyd to hand over one of the keys to the enemy.

How much more chaos would she cause?

Naomi leaned her head forward, resting it against the soft fabric that covered her knees. She sighed deeply wondering how she should act in the newest task Sensei Wu had handed them over. The only place he and Misako could think of when reading the line 'Three in storm' was the lighting city, in which Naomi's clumsiness had almost caused her brother's death.

_I should stay away from Cole then _

If Cole stayed she'd go with the others. If Cole went with the others she'd stay. And hopefully she'd be making the right choice this time.

"Tired?" Lloyd's voice peeked into Naomi's thoughts.

She quickly sat up, faking a smile. "Kinda yeah."

"Well that sucks 'cause we're almost there." Lloyd stood in front of Naomi, not knowing what to say or do to make the pain in her eyes wash away at least for a second.

Naomi wanted Lloyd to leave, but at the same time she was afraid of what her mind would do to her once she was alone again. So she tried to find a subject to keep the conversation flowing. "Jay still mad at Sensei?"

Lloyd nodded. "Furious,"

Once everyone had calmed down after Casey's crazy move, the first thing that came to the ninjas' attention was the fact that Nya was missing. After searching the forest and not finding any trace of the samurai girl everyone deducted that she'd been kidnapped by the red headed pyromaniac.

Of course Jay had been head over heels with worry. But Sensei had said, No, Sensei had _ordered _they continue in search for the keys.

"We do not know where Casey might be and searching for Nya would end up being a wild goose chase!" He had said looking Jay in the eye. "She's strong and she can take care of herself, and you know it."

Jay did know it. But Jay also knew he needed to have Nya close. To apologize for the misunderstanding and hold her hand. And never, ever, let go of it again.

Lloyd's eyes lit up. He'd been practicing on his knew powers granted by the golden peaks for a while now so maybe, a demonstration would spark a smile in Naomi's face. "Want to see something cool?"

Naomi nodded, wondering what the green ninja had up his sleeves this time.

Lloyd focused on what he wanted to create. A few seconds later, a gorgeous red rose was resting in the palm of his hand. He smiled at the surprise in the girl's purple eyes. Bowing slightly ,and trying not to die of blush overload, he handed the rose to Naomi.

"Wow. . . What did I just witness exactly?" Questioned Naomi, holding the rose tight as if her life depended on it. Which it might as well could have. Seeing as to how her life seemed to go from bad to worst, She needed to hold onto the good things, however small, so she wouldn't lose her sanity.

"Well remember when I, ahem, Kissed you in the golden peaks and saved you in an awesome yet cliché moment?" Lloyd scratched the back of his head. "Well some of your powers must have transferred onto me because now I can do cool things like that!"

"And you haven't told the others because. . .?"

"I can't exactly do much yet, so I'd rather keep quiet until my powers are actually useful."

"Right. . ."

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the floating city of lighthing. Cole, staring up at the place in which Pythor had outwitted him. When they asked who would stay and guard the ship Cole was the first to volunteer, not wanting to go up to that place. Just in case. That meant Naomi would be going along with the others. That also meant that Nadya would be staying, to try and slowly push the earth ninja into Casey's hand.

So as the others went up, Nadya and Cole stayed down.

"So bad memories from up there huh?" Nadya said trying to strike up a conversation. She needed to connect with him. To make him care for her without her caring for him.

"Ugh yeah, Pythor was a little- . . probably shouldn't say that word but you get the idea." Cole smiled

"I'd agree if I knew who Pythor was but to be honest I know nothing about you, but you know everything about me." Nadya almost smiled. _Actually, you only know what I wanted you to know. So you don't know anything about me._

"Guess I owe you back _my _story, huh?" Cole said. He was beginning to like the strange girl. She was easy to talk to and she didn't spark up the evil inside him like almost everyone else seemed to do. Except he didn't trust her. There was definitely something about her that was just _wrong_.

"And don't forget to add the little bit in which you explain why your eyes keep turning red. And before you ask how I know, I'd tell you it's pretty obvious since you seem to do it quiet often."

Lighting flashed above them, followed by loud thunder which almost seemed to shake the ship. Cole sighed, deciding that maybe it was time to be honest with someone. Besides the girl had been with Casey for a long time. Maybe she knew something.

He told her about his sister. About running away and finding sensei. About getting his own golden weapon the losing it to the hands of Lloyd's father. Nadya learned all about the fang blades, the great devourer, and the overlord. She questioned him more deeply about the serpentine while touching the purple scales on her otherwise soft skin. Venomari blood was the one that allowed Nadya to spit venom. Hypnobrai blood made it easy for her to control her opponents. The constrictai blood had granted her with strength. She owed her ability to camouflage to the anacondrai. Nadya had never tried to bite anyone, so she didn't know if the Fangpyre's powers were within her as well.

Then he told her about the devourer's blood and how it was slowly sweeping back into his body.

_Devourer's blood. . . That's interesting _Nadya thought but said. " And you can't control it?"

"No. . . And I'm afraid I'll end up hurting someone I love one day."

"Then why don't you tell the others? Afraid to ask for help are we?"

"Well I mean it's not like they can really do anything. So I'm trying not to make anyone worry here."

Nadya looked at Cole. Who had the strength to stand up on his own two feet. Who was overprotective of anyone he cared about. And most of all, She looked at Cole and saw someone who was slowly losing his free will due to something he could not control. Nadya looked away as chills traveled up her spine.

This was all too familiar.

The thunder continued to roar above them.

Garmadon and Misako searched the small ruins under the temple of lighting. Zane and Lloyd where sent to climb up the mountain and into the temple itself. Sensei Wu searched within the small ruined building. And Naomi and Jay had been told to search the largest building, which was surrounded by a pool of pale glass.

They walked inside, where the darkness was beaten back only by the relentless flashes of lighting. Echoes and soft sounds revolved around them as they searched for anything that might have been used to hide the key in.

"I wish we had a flashlight, It's too dark in here." Naomi half whispered, wishing Jay would say something. It was weird for him to be this quiet, and while being in this eerie building the purple eyed girl could really use some of the blue ninja's jokes, to drive away the fear.

But Jay only responded with a soft, monotone "Yeah."

"Maybe we should try on another floor."

This time Jay merely nodded.

Both of them searched each floor but to no avail. Naomi was about to call it quits and say they should return to the others when she spotted a golden plaque engraved into the wall. "Jay check it out."

The ninja of lighting stepped towards her and looked at the rectangle of gold. In it, was the drawing of a small beautiful key. Naomi looked at Jay's blue eyes. "This has gotta be it."

Jay half shrugged half nodded.

"Well . . . That first time Casey opened it with blood." Naomi looked around then picked up a small piece of glass. "This sucks so much. . . I hope it works."

Jay grabbed Naomi's arm. "Don't, I'll do it."

From behind them, in the deep darkness Nya watched arms crossed. Casey was right. Here was Jay protecting the stupid little girl. Of course he wouldn't let her cut herself to retrieve the key. Of course he'd be Naomi's hero and do it himself. Of course.

Jay used the broken glass to create a small cut in the palm of his hand. After pressing it against the golden plaque, a small key fell onto the ground. Naomi picked it up. Nya stepped out of the darkness.

"You're going to have to hand that over." She muttered with anger, wanting to hurt the small girl. Half of it due to jealousy, the other, due to Casey's spell.

"Nya!" Jay exclaimed trying to process the girl before her. It was definitely his black haired soul mate, yet something wasn't right.

Then he saw what Nya intended to do. Her samurai sword was clenched tightly between her two hands as she swung it at Naomi whose thoughts weren't revolving fast enough to keep up with what was happening.

Jay swung out his nun-chucks, blocking Nya's attack and making her stagger back a few steps. "Nya what are you doing?"

"Getting the key for Casey that's what I'm doing!" Nya yelled. "And getting rid of that girl in the process!"

Nya tried to attack again. Jay continued to protect Naomi, Careful not to actually hurt Nya. "Nya stop she's just a kid."

Lighting flashed, the light reflecting on Nya's razor sharp sword.

"A kid you choose over _me!"_

"What are you _talking _about? Nya you're crazy!" _stop stop stop stop _Jay thougth frantically. _I don't want to hurt you Nya but I can't let you hurt Naomi._

"Yes Jay I a_m _crazy!"

Thunder accompanied Nya's words.

The samurai slashed her sword at Jay's chest. Jay looked at the wound surprised that the love of his life had actually gone and attacked _him_. At the sight of Jay's blood something snapped inside Nya's mind. Her heart willed her to come back to her senses yet her mind forced her to do what Casey wanted.

Nya pushed Naomi back, snatching the small key from her hands. Then she ran. Ran away from the boy who made her heart ache and the girl who made her head hurt.

"You alright?" Jay asked wiping off some of the blood on his hand.

Naomi nodded.

"Let's. . . Get back to the others." Jay walked towards the stairs.

Naomi followed.

In her head, she was adding another thing to the list of bad things she'd caused.

Number eight, Hurting Jay and Nya.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16-Unathorized feelings, a dance, and a smile on the side

_Step by Step_

_Heart to Heart_

_Left, Right, Left_

_We all fall down_

_Like toy soldiers_

Naomi listened to the song for what seemed to be the hundredth time. The sun was beginning to peek through the horizon and Naomi realized she'd had yet another sleepless night. Her mind didn't ever shut up. Her stomach was always tightened up with guilt. And after what she'd witnessed between Jay and Nya, no longer the perfect couple thanks to Naomi, there was no way her purple eyes could rest.

_Bit by Bit_

_Torn apart_

_We never win_

_But the battle rages on_

_For toy soldiers_

Naomi paused her music, sitting up and pushing the hair away from her tired eyes. Sensei must be up by now. Which meant she could go ask what the next part of their plan was. The girl straightened out her clothes, stepping out of the room she had formerly shared with Nya and was currently sharing with the new girl.

Her footsteps echoed through the silence of the bounty, alerting Sensei of her presence long before Naomi actually set foot out on deck. Without looking up from his steaming cup of tea, Sensei said. "You're up early Naomi . . Or should I say you were up late?"

Naomi smiled. Her head shook slightly, not even bothering to ask how Sensei knew she'd stayed up. For some reason, Sensei Wu always seemed to know everything. Must be an old-wise-man-with-white-long-beard thing. "What's the plan for today Sensei?"

"The plan is," Misako said coming up from behind them, causing Naomi to jump slightly. "To give you guys a break."

Naomi blinked. Once. Twice. " A break?"

"Well I'm sure all you are very tired of ,well, everything and We decided-"

"You mean _you _decided. "Garmadon stepped out onto the deck, giving his wife a small kiss on the cheek. Sensei Wu looked away.

"Yes, _I _decided it was about time you little ones got some rest." Misako smiled. "So while Me, Garmadon and Wu go search for the fourth key you guys will stay in the city and try to have some fun for once."

"Fun," Naomi echoed, barely grasping the idea.

"Yes fun. So now go wake the others and tell them to get off the ship because we're about to go."

Naomi was still dumbfounded while she awakened the others. Why would they be allowed a break? Not that she was complaining but since when did ninjas and ninjas-in-training get breaks?. Either way Naomi was determined to make the best of it. For the first time in what seemed like ages, She'd be able to interact with others without anyone's life hanging in the balance.

The guys, however, weren't quite as excited.

They were inside a restaurant, waiting for their breakfast to be served. Jay sat back, staring blankly at the tabletop. Sensei and Misako had done an excellent job at patching up the blue ninja's wound. But the pain from the stitched up skin wasn't what was bothering him. It was the fact that the person who'd wounded him was the person he loved the most. Lloyd rapped his knuckles absent mindedly, thinking about what a terrible job he seemed to be doing as the legendary green ninja. Not only had he failed a whole village, but he'd handed over an important artifact to the enemy. He didn't even think he was even worthy of wearing his suit anymore. Cole tried to act natural, even though the shadows under his eyes revealed that was the opposite of alright. The nightmare had kept sweeping into his dreams, making it impossible to sleep. And the evil was gaining territory. Half of the time there was always a voice in his head, tempting him to just lash out at everyone in his way. Nadya merely sat there, studying everyone around her and trying not to think too much about the fact that the adults weren't here. Which meant no one was watching her too closely. Which meant slightly more freedom than usual. Nadya wrinkled her eyebrows. She wasn't free. She had a mission. She had to focus.

All in all, it was only Zane and Naomi who were trying to lighten the mood. The nindroid looked around, taking notice of all the different eating habits that were happening around him. "This is most exciting. Is it not?"

"Yeah! A whole day all for ourselves," Naomi agreed, hoping that Lloyd would look up at her.

"The possibilities are rather large." Zane continued, knowing his team needed to loosen up and relax, in order for them to be able to get better.

"We could take a walk . ."

"Perhaps try a new Ice cream flavor?

"Or we could try checking out the movies."

"It would be an educational experience if we headed to the museum."

Cole pushed away the fatigue in his brain. He knew his sister was way to young to have gone through what she'd gone through. And now here she was, smiling and trying to make everyone else happy. He could at least try to have some fun. He owed her that much. Besides his team needed some rest and he knew it." Ok well, we'll need a plan if we're going to get around to doing anything."

"Indeed," Zane nodded staring at the food he was no being served. He'd have to take note of the recipe, the simple smell of it caused everyone's eyes to open a bit wider. "What is the first thing we should do?"

Naomi bit down on the soft pancake in front of her. The sweet flavor was perfect. " If you guys are alright with it. . . I think we should visit Kai first, You know try to catch him up to what's been going on. He might be in a coma, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk to him."

Lloyd finally looked up at Naomi, whose sad eyes didn't fit with her sweet smile. He reminded himself that he wasn't the only one going through bad stuff. And Naomi was trying to cheer them up even if she couldn't really cheer herself up. Meanwhile the green ninja simply sat there looking depressed? No way! He was Lloyd Garmadon, he couldn't let stuff bring him down!

So he smiled at Naomi, and began to eat. " Yes that sounds like a great idea."

Jay didn't touch his food throughout breakfast. No one really bothered him though. They understood he wanted to be left alone. All of them walked to the hospital where Kai was still deep in the dreamworld. Naomi talked and talked, Telling Kai almost every detail. Then they talked to the doctors, who had no idea when Kai would possibly wake up.

"Well at least he's doing alright." Naomi said as they walked out, more to herself than anyone.

Zane held the door open for his fellow ninjas, when he noticed a colorful paper taped to a light post in front of the hospital. He approached it a smile forming in his face. His ninja brothers wouldn't like this idea at all but he knew this was possibly the only way to loosen everyone up and maybe bring a smile to Jay's face.

"What's that you got there Zane?" Lloyd asked, looking over the nindroid's shoulder. "Oh that. . . Zane please don't get any ideas."

Cole came up to Zane looking at the paper he was holding. "No. . . Zane no, stop smiling that is a no."

Naomi's eyes widened when she saw what the colorful letters spelled. "Oh yes! This is perfect and it's tonight too!"

Nadya stepped closer. _Ninjago's 56__th__ Annual dance, Saturday, October 05, 2013 from 7:00pm until midnight. _Her soft brown eyes read the text again. A dance would be interesting, since she'd never got to witness one with her own eyes.

_It would be kind of exciting_

_You mean it would be the perfect place to get rid of Lloyd since everyone would be distracted? _A voice in her head argued.

Nadya sighed. She had to focus.

"It is settled them we will go." Zane smiled at Naomi.

"Oh yes, As the leader's sister I command that we go!" Naomi smiled back at Zane.

Jay, Lloyd, and Cole sighed in unison.

One meal, six changes of clothes, and thousands of autographs later the three ninjas and the two girls stood in front of Ninjago's massive museum, where the dance was to be hosted. Jay looked distant, Cole looked annoyed, and Zane looked excited. The three of them looked picture perfect in their black tuxedos, while Lloyd kept fidgeting in his. It was much too large and much too itchy and the bowtie seemed to be trying to choke him to death. Naomi looked gorgeous, her cheeks glowing with a soft red and her body fitting almost perfectly into the light green dress. Her thick black hair refused to be tamed but the wild look it had seemed to fit perfectly with her face. Nadya just looked plain awkward, pulling down at her black dress wondering why in the world anyone would want to willingly wear something like this. She'd tried to use her hair to hide her purple scales that were sure to attract attention, but thanks to Casey it was much too short.

It was hard to stay together once they stepped inside. Lloyd and Zane were captured by fangirls the moment they stepped through the door. Jay's dark look managed to protect him from the squealing girls that had been headed his way. Naomi decided to follow Jay, since it was her fault he was hurting so much the least the purple eyed girl could do was make him have some fun. Cole, seeing that the girls who'd had her eyes in Jay had begun to look at him, Took Nadya's arm and using her as a shield from the teenage chicks who would have left him alone, even for a second.

"Uh. . . What are you doing?" Nadya stared at Cole's arm which he'd entwined with hers.

"Trying to get away from the crazy fangirls."

Nadya looked and understood. If the girls went to Cole they'd annoyed him. If Cole got annoyed he might snap. And if Cole snapped. . . Well with the evil running through him it would not be pretty. But Cole was taking him away from her target.

"Use your sister then not me," Nadya tried to get away bu Cole's grip was too tight. She stopped struggling.

"I don't know where she's at."

Well part of Nadya's plan _was _to get close to the soon to be evil boy. So she wasn't breaking any rules. "Fine I'll stay but you can't make me dance."

"Deal,"

* * *

"C'mon Jay you can't just sit there with your arms crossed." Naomi pointed out standing beside the blue ninja's chair.

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be with Lloyd?"

"Shouldn't you be having fun?

Jay looked away.

Naomi fell onto the chair in front closest to her. " How smart are you Jay?"

Jay shrugged.

"I'm guessing not very." Naomi continued. " So let me give you a lesson in logic alright?"

* * *

Cole made Nadya step out into the museum's courtyard with him. "It's way to crowded I hate this. It was a terrible idea."

Nadya looked at Cole's eyes which flashed red. She wondered whether he would finally snap, here and now. Then she could be honest with him. And she could go back to Casey. But going back to Casey meant giving up whatever small freedom she currently had. Nadya owed Casey everything, but she wanted to play the part of 'good-girl' a while longer.

It felt nice when everyone wasn't trying to hurt you.

"Well there's no one out here so try to relax." Nadya finally said, hoping her words might delay the evil.. Just a bit longer. "I don't want to have to kick your butt if you try to attack me."

Cole looked at Nadya. He almost smiled and replied something funny, then he remembered something. "I didn't think you'd know how to fight, seeing as to how you've been Casey's prisoner and all."

Nadya bit her tongue. She was relaxing a bit too much. Right now, she was supposed to be an helpless girl not a witch-in-training. "I might not be a fighter but I'd have the upper hand because guys can't hit girls."

"Oh yeah? Says who?" Cole smiled. He had to stop being so suspicious of Nadya all the time.

"Says me," Nadya replied, staring at the smile of the ninja of earth and wondering why her hormones wouldn't shut up.

* * *

"You love Nya," Naomi stated. "She loves you."

"Sure," Jay said, who wasn't really sure of anything anymore.

"So I'm guessing she got jealous for whatever reason." Naomi kept talking, wondering where she was going with this. The words just kept rolling out of her mouth. " And Casey took advantage of that."

Jay looked up at Naomi.

"And you know how Casey is. Heck, I'm pretty sure Casey use one of her spell thingymabobs to make Nya be on her side."

Jay's eyes got distant as he remembered how he'd lost Nya once before. The overlord had taken control over her by using Dark matter. But eventually it had turned out alright hadn't it?

"We'll probably end up finding a way to fix Nya and you can have her back." Naomi held out her small hand. " But for now you can't do anything so what's the point in worrying? For tonight just have fun, isn't that what Nya would have wanted if she was here? So come on let's wipe off those newbies from the dance floor and show'em how it's done."

Jay stared at Naomi's hand then slowly took it. A small smile lifted his right cheek. The little girl was right. He'd be able to find a way to fix Nya. Sitting around with a grumpy face thinking how terrible things were wasn't going to do much, apart from making him feel worst. So for now the best he could do was enjoy the moment.

The purple eyed girl smiled brightly as Jay stood. So maybe she wasn't so bad. Maybe she didn't just hurt people. Maybe she was able to help them too.

* * *

The full moon's light lit up Nadya's features at just the right angle. Cole looked at the girl who he'd saved from the clutches of fire. It all seemed so long ago. He made contact with her soft brown eyes and he wondered who she really was. There were so many secrets swimming through her vision.

Cole wanted to know all those secrets. He wanted to know why his heart was suddenly beating faster. He wanted to know why he was getting closer to her. There was a weird attraction pulling him towards a girl he'd never even thought twice about before. Maybe it was the moment. Maybe it was her eyes. Maybe it was simply because she was the only one standing beside him, the only one who truly knew what was going on with the black ninja.

Cole wanted to know why his lips were suddenly against hers.

**(My god. Longest Chapter Ever! I just sat here and kept typing and BOOM suddenly I finally make something of acceptable length. I played around a bit with the narrative here, trying to see what it would be like to jump from scene to scene. What did you guys think? Also. . . Yeah. . . There's Cole kissing a girl the moment he decides he likes her while it took Lloyd like 27 chapters to kiss Naomi. Ha. Also, the song is 'Toy soldeirs' by Martika. I'm sure you guys haven't heard it 'cause it's old and I'm a weird teen that enjoys old songs. Still though great song. Anyway I'll hush up now)**


	17. Four in Flood

Chapter 17-Four in flood

_Step by Step._

_There were echoes of running footsteps resounding through the wooden walls of the ship. Sounds of water rushing in filled the small gaps of silence in between. There was shouting, though all of the words were incoherent. Every sound was soaked in panic and the tension in the atmosphere seemed to grow._

_Heart to Heart. _

_An older woman with compelling green eyes crashed against a door, trying to force it open. On the other side a man did the same. They both screamed each other's names, a waterfall of tears soaking the woman's face. The narrow hallway she stood in was being drowned in water. There would soon be no air to breathe._

_Left, Right, Left._

_The woman ran from one end to the hallway to another. On the left, there was the only way out of the sinking ship. But it had been sealed of when the weakening deck collapsed upon it. On the left lay another man, this one with a long white beard. His leg was twisted in a unhealthy angle, and try as he might he couldn't move more than an inch._

_We all fall down._

_Water came in through every opening. There was no way to escape the wrath of the neverending ocean. Its thick waves pulling the ship down into its depths as if it were no more than a child's toy. The woman with the green eyes tried to hold on to her consciousness, but there was no way to escape the small black dots that began to fill her vision until there was nothing but darkness._

_Like Toy Soldiers _

_Bright colors. Extreme heat. Water dripping down from soaked cloth and skin. And then a voice. A sweet, powerful, mocking voice._

"_Hello sister," It said. "Long time no see. . ."_

Naomi jumped up, escaping the clutches of her dream. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her heart beat painfully fast. Her eyes scanned her surroundings as her mind tried to grab hold of reality. Naomi was in a tiny apartment, the only place within Ninjago city that the ninja could call their own.

The purple eyed girl stood up carefully, the space was so cramped it was difficult to take a few steps without almost stepping on a sleeping body. She hopped towards the door and slowly walked out closing the wooden door behind her as quietly as physically possible. The cool night air blew gently on Naomi's features and she began to relax.

_Sensei and Lloyd's parents are in trouble _Naomi thought a sick feeling growing in her stomach. _But how am I even supposed to tell the others? _

She could already hear them responding 'It was just a nightmare'. They had no reason to believe any of it was real.

"You're up early," Nadya's voice said behind Naomi. "Sun's not even up yet."

Naomi jumped a little, turning quickly to face the serpentine girl. " Just had a nightmare and needed some fresh air."

"Oh I hate bad dreams," Nadya stepped closer. The little girl's lips were a mirror image of Cole's lips. Nadya's brown eyes looked away quickly. She had no time to think of the black ninja. No time to think about his lips against hers. No time to think about the fact that she hadn't pulled away. "What was it about?"

"It kind of looked like Sensei Wu and Lloyd's parents were in trouble." Naomi blurted out. "Thing is, I've had parts of my dreams come true before, so it's kind of unsettling to think they might need help. I think Casey might have gotten them."

_Jeez, this girl doesn't even really know me and she's telling me even more than I need to know _Nadya had to hold back a bit of laughter _Being innocent kind of does make you idiotic_

"You've had weird dreams before?" Nadya pressed for details. If she could get the so called 'Key' from the purple eyed girl she would be able to return to Casey. And she needed to return before her heart got any more ideas about Cole.

"Yeah, that's what threw me into this crazy life with the ninjas." Naomi continued not being able to control a smile as she talked. Ever since she'd gotten her voice there were few things she could say without smiling in silly way. "It was about how to find this special chalice to get powers at the golden peaks, which is why Pythor, this serpentine guy that you're so lucky not to have met, tried to kidnap me."

Nadya nodded encouragingly. _How can she smile so easily? I can see pain in her eyes and yet. . . Here she is shrugging it all off and smiling at a mutant with scales on her face._

" And now, I had a weird dream about something called . . . The devil's box I think," Naomi bit her lip trying to remember the exact words that had echoed in her head not too long ago. " Uhh. . . It went like this I think. . _'Find the keys within a rhyme And the devil's box is near, Find the blood within her life And the devil's box is here'_"

"That's so weird." Nadya said not able to believe her luck. She'd heard the words she needed to hear. Now Casey had to let her go back. Even though Nadya loved the small freedom being with the ninja gave her, she could never afford to feel anything for anyone. "Well shouldn't you go back and try to get rest. . ? I'm sure your dream was nothing and that sensei of yours will be here to wake you up super early tomorrow"

Naomi laughed a little. "I suppose you're right,"

The small girl walked back inside but Nadya stood still. She muttered a few words under her breath and a small portal appeared before her, with Casey's body on the other side. She smiled brightly at Nadya. "You have good news for me my little snake?"

"Yes," Nadya responded, her eyes wondering over to the dark cell behind Casey. Within it, lay an old man with a long white beard. So Naomi's dream had been right. Casey _had _captured the others. The witch in training was amazed by Casey's plan. Without the elders to guide the ninja, it would be so easy to cause them to fall apart. "I've got the words from the little purple eyed pipsqueak."

"Excellent!" Casey smiled as her plans for chaos began coming together. " I've been rather busy myself, I got the fourth precious key _and _got my sister, her amazingly attractive husband, and the bearded man under lock and key."

"Either way," Casey continued. "What are the words my beautiful Nadya?"

Nadya repeated the words that Naomi had told her. "So, I can go back with you now right?"

"Not quite not quite." The witch shook her head. "I'll be rather busy with these three in my hands so you have to stay with the ninja until they get all the keys so you can bring them to me."

Of course. Casey would always have an extra chore up her sleeve. ". . . Well alright"

"I'll be waiting. . . "Casey closed the portal a smile growing stronger on her lips.

The witch didn't need Nadya to get the keys. Keeping her prisoners under control was no trouble thanks to the magnitude of her powers. But the only way for Casey's plan to unravel properly was for her little serpentine experiment to lose her heart to the evil blooded ninja of earth. And when that happened the world would burn.

Chaos would destroy everything .

**(Soo yeah. Sensei and the others are not there to help our ninja. And Casey's way to psycho. And Naomi just. . . *facepalm* still though I love Naomi, I feel like she's one of the best characters my brain has given birth to. Hope you guys enjoyed! R&R please!)**


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